Content adaptive noise reduction filtering for image signals

ABSTRACT

A method includes selecting a target pixel and comparing a value of the target pixel with a respective value of each of a plurality of pixels located in an area that includes the target pixel. Further, for each pixel of the plurality of pixels that has a value different by at least a threshold amount from the value of the target pixel, the value of such pixel is replaced by the value of the target pixel. A filter function is applied to a set of pixels which includes the value of the target pixel and current values, after the selective replacement step, of the plurality of pixels.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a Continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/230,148, filed Sep. 19, 2005.

BACKGROUND

It is known to perform noise reduction processing on video signals toimprove perceived image quality by mitigating the effects of noise thattypically is present in the video signals. Sources of noise includecompression encoding/decoding, which may result in various types ofartifacts such as block noise, ringing noise, mosquito noise andtransform noise. Other sources of noise may include video captureprocessing, analog-to-digital conversion, and signal transmission.

Noise reduction processing may be performed after video signaldecompression (decoding) for purposes of image quality improvement, andmay also be performed prior to transmission or recording, to avoidwasting bandwidth on transmission/recording of artifacts as well as forquality considerations.

Typical kinds of noise reduction processing involve low pass filteringof the video signal. Although generally worthwhile to mitigateartifacts, such filtering may also blur the image to some extent, sothat noise reduction processing may entail trading off one type ofdistortion for another. Computational complexity may also be a drawbackin noise reduction processing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus which generates a videobitstream from captured images in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an apparatus which generates a videodisplay from a video bitstream in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram that illustrates some operations ofa noise reduction block that is part of the apparatus of FIG. 1 or FIG.2.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates a process performed by the noisereduction block.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates aspects of the process of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram that illustrates some operations ofthe noise reduction block in some other embodiments.

FIGS. 7A and 7B together form a flow chart that illustrates a processthat may be performed in connection with the functional arrangement ofFIG. 6.

FIG. 8 graphically illustrates an aspect of the process of FIGS. 7A and7B.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram that illustrates aspects of noisereduction filtering performed according to still other embodiments inthe apparatus of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 10A and 10B together form a flow chart that illustrates a processthat may be performed in connection with the functional arrangement ofFIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus 100 which generates a videobitstream from captured images in accordance with some embodiments.

The apparatus 100 includes a video signal capture device 102 such as adigital video camera. The apparatus 100 further includes apre-processing block 104 which is coupled to the video signal capturedevice 102. The pre-processing block 104 performs one or more kinds ofpre-processing on the captured video signal provided by the video signalcapture device 102. For example, the pre-processing block 104 mayperform one or more different kinds of noise reduction processing as inone of the embodiments described below.

The apparatus 100 also includes a compression encoding block 106 whichis coupled to the pre-processing block 104. The compression encodingblock 106 may apply compression encoding in accordance with conventionalpractices to the pre-processed video signal provided by thepre-processing block 104.

In addition, the apparatus 100 may include a transmitter 108 coupled tothe compression encoding block 106 to transmit the compression encodedvideo signal in the form of a video signal bitstream over acommunication channel which is not separately shown.

Details of embodiments of the pre-processing block 104 will be discussedbelow.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an apparatus 200 which generates a videodisplay from a video bitstream in accordance with some embodiments.

The apparatus 200 includes a source 202 of a video signal bitstream. Forexample, the video signal source 202 may receive a video signal via acommunication channel (which is not separately shown) or may reproduce avideo signal from a storage medium such as a DVD or a hard disk drive.For example, the video signal source may include a video tuner, asatellite earth station, or a DVD player. It will be assumed that thevideo signal bitstream represents a video signal that has beencompression encoded, e.g., in accordance with one of the MPEGcompression standards. The video signal source 202 may operate inaccordance with conventional practices.

The apparatus 200 also includes a video decoder 204 which is coupled tothe video signal source to de-compress the video signal bitstreamsupplied by the video signal source 202. The video decoder 204 mayoperate in accordance with conventional principles, and may tend toproduce artifacts in the output video image, subject to amelioration viaembodiments to be described below.

The apparatus 200 further includes a post-processing block 206 which iscoupled to the video decoder 204. The post-processing block 206 performsone or more kinds of post processing on the decompressed video signaloutput from the video decoder 204. For example, the post-processingblock 206 may perform one or more different kinds of noise reductionprocessing as in one or more of the embodiments described below.

In addition, the apparatus 200 includes a display device 208, such as aconventional television set or a computer display monitor. The displaydevice 208 displays the video signal that is output from thepost-processing block 206.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram that illustrates aspects of a noisereduction process performed in the pre-processing block 104 or in thepost-processing block 206 in accordance with some embodiments.

Block 302 represents the pre-processing block 104 or the post-processingblock 206 (or a noise reduction sub-block) receiving an input videosignal (e.g., directly or indirectly from the video capturing device102, or directly or indirectly from the video decoder 204) that is to besubjected to noise reduction processing. Block 304 represents circuitry(specially designed or programmed) provided in accordance with someembodiments to apply a filtering process that may be referred to as a“content adaptive substitute filtering” process. As will be describedbelow in more detail, prospective pixel values to be used for filteringare (as indicated by block 306) compared with target pixel values andare replaced in some cases to support improved low-pass filtering(indicated by block 308). Output of the resulting low-pass filteredvideo signal is indicated at block 310.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates an embodiment of a contentadaptive substitute filtering process that may be performed in block 304(FIG. 3). Referring now to FIG. 4, block 402 represents block 304receiving the input video signal (e.g., after video capture or afterde-compression of a previously compression-encoded video signal). Block404 represents selection of a target pixel x from the input videosignal. The target pixel x is the pixel for which a filtered outputvalue is now to be calculated. In a particular example of contentadaptive substitute filtering, the filter output value for each targetpixel is determined on the basis of pixel values in a filter supportneighborhood area that is a three-pixel-by-three-pixel square centeredon the target pixel x. This area may be referred to as NH(x) or, sincethe total area corresponds to 9 pixels, as NH9(x). (In some embodiments,a filter support area other than three-pixels-by-three-pixels may beused. For example, filter support areas of four-pixels-by-four-pixels,five-pixels-by-five-pixels, six-pixels-by-six-pixels orseven-pixels-by-seven-pixels may be used in alternative embodiments.)

At 406 in FIG. 4, the value of one of the neighboring pixels y in NH9(x)is compared with the value of pixel x. At 408 it is determined whetherthe absolute value of the difference between the two pixel values is atleast as great as a threshold amount TH(x). (In the particularembodiment now being discussed, TH(x) may be a constant that is used inconnection with all target pixels, but in other embodiments, asdescribed below, TH(x) may vary from target pixel to target pixel. Insome embodiments, the constant used for TH(x) may be programmable by auser or designer of the apparatus 100 or 200.)

If at 408 it is determined that the absolute value of the differencebetween the two pixel values is at least as great as TH(x), then, at410, the value of neighboring pixel y is replaced with the value of thetarget pixel x for the purposes of applying a filtering function tocalculate an output filtered pixel value for the target pixel. If at 408it is determined that the absolute value of the difference between thetwo pixel values is less than TH(x), then the value of the neighboringpixel is not replaced. Following 408 in the latter case, or following410, as the case may be, is a decision block 412, at which it isdetermined whether there remain any neighboring pixels in NH9(x), whichhave not been compared with the target pixel. If such is the case, thenthe process of FIG. 4 loops back to 406 for consideration of anotherneighboring pixel in NH9(x). If such is not the case, the processproceeds to apply a low-pass filter characteristic to generate afiltered output value for the target pixel, as indicated at 414 and aswill be discussed further below.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an example of how the loop 406-412 mayoperate in connection with a particular target pixel x. The originalcondition of NH(x) is indicated at 502, with the target pixel x beingrepresented by the solid black pixel at the center of the array shown at502. The hollow circles in the array 502 represent neighboring pixelsfor which the values differ from the value of pixel x (if at all) byless than TH(x). The shaded circles in the array 502 representneighboring pixels for which the values differ from the value of pixel xby at least TH(x). As indicated schematically at 504, the values of thelatter neighboring pixels are replaced by the value of the target pixelx to form a substitute filter support array SNH(x). The set of pixelvalues represented by SNH(x) includes the value of the target pixel and“current values” of the neighboring pixels, where the current value of aneighboring pixel is the original value of the pixel if the value hasnot undergone replacement and is the value of the target pixel ifreplacement has occurred. By operation of this compare and replaceprocess, outlier pixel values are removed from the filter support areaso that more satisfactory filter results may be obtained. At the sametime, the outlier values are each replaced with the target pixel value,so that the number of input values for the filtering function is thesame for each target pixel, thereby reducing complexity of hardwareimplementation. This is in contrast to the known “sigma filter”, inwhich outlier values are simply discarded, leading to varying numbers ofinput values and complex implementation.

Referring again to 412 in FIG. 4, in some embodiments the filterfunction to be applied to generate the output filtered value for thetarget pixel x may be defined by the following weight matrix:

$\begin{bmatrix}1 & 2 & 1 \\2 & 4 & 2 \\1 & 2 & 1\end{bmatrix}\quad$

To reduce the complexity of the calculations, this two-dimensionalmatrix may be decomposed into two one dimensional matrices:

$\begin{bmatrix}1 \\2 \\1\end{bmatrix}*\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} 2\mspace{14mu} 1} \rbrack$

(Filter characteristics other than that indicated above may be used inother embodiments. For example, filter characteristics suitable forother sizes of filter support may be used.)

In some embodiments, the output filtered value for the target pixel xmay be calculated as follows:

${( {1/16} )*( {( {\underset{y \in {{NH}\; 9{(x)}}}{\sum{w(y)}}*\{ y \}} ) + 8} )},$

where w(y) is the value of the weighting matrix at the position of thepixel y∈NH9(x), and {y} is the value of that pixel. It will be notedthat 16 is the summation over the weighting matrix and 8 is one-half ofthat summation, the latter term being applied for purposes of rounding.

In other embodiments, other filter functions may be applied. Also, inother embodiments, other sizes and/or shapes of filter support areas maybe employed rather than the above-described three-pixel-by-three-pixelfilter support area.

Once the filter function has been applied to SNH(x) and the resultingoutput filtered value for the target pixel has been calculated, theoutput filtered value may be stored, as indicated at 416 in FIG. 4. Itis next determined, at decision block 418, whether output filteredvalues have been obtained for all of the target pixels in the image thatis being processed. If not, the process of FIG. 4 loops back to 404.Otherwise the process is complete. It will be appreciated that thecontent adaptive substitute filter process illustrated in FIG. 4 may beapplied to each image represented by the input video signal.

The content adaptive substitute filtering arrangement of FIGS. 3-5 mayprovide improved noise reduction filtering with a low degree ofimplementation complexity.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram that illustrates aspects of a noisereduction process performed in the pre-processing block 104 or in thepost-processing block 206 in accordance with some other embodiments. Inthese other embodiments, operation of the content adaptive substitutefiltering may be modified to incorporate adaptation of the substitutionthreshold amount TH(x) by taking into consideration the presence of edgeconditions at the target pixel x.

Referring to FIG. 6, the functional blocks that were discussed above inconnection with FIG. 3 are also present in FIG. 6, except that blocks304′ and 306′ in FIG. 6 reflect capability to modify in the value ofTH(x) from target pixel to target pixel. In addition, the arrangement ofFIG. 6 includes a functional block 602 which performs edge detectionprocessing at each target pixel.

FIGS. 7A and 7B together form a flow chart that illustrates anembodiment of an edge-sensitive content adaptive substitute filteringprocess that may be performed by blocks 602 and 304′ of FIG. 6. Theprocess of FIGS. 7A and 7B may begin with the same blocks 402 and 404discussed above in connection with FIG. 4. In addition, the process ofFIGS. 7A and 7B includes a block 702 at which an edge metric EM(x) iscalculated with respect to the target pixel x. In some embodiments, theso-called Sobel edge detector may be employed, using the followingmatrices:

${E\_ h} = {{\begin{bmatrix}{- 1} & {- 2} & {- 1} \\0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 2 & 1\end{bmatrix}\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu}{E\_ v}} = \begin{bmatrix}{- 1} & 0 & 1 \\{- 2} & 0 & 2 \\{- 1} & 0 & 1\end{bmatrix}}$

The edge metric value may be calculated as follows as the convolution ofthe edge detection weighting matrices with the 3×3 neighborhood NH9(x)of the target pixel:EM(x)=|NH9(x)*E _(—) h|+|NH9(x)*E _(—) v|

At 704 an edge-related substitution threshold ETH(x) is calculated to beused (in place of the above described threshold TH(x)) in a contentadaptive substitute filtering process to be applied to the target pixel.ETH(x) may be a function of the calculated edge metric EM(x) for thetarget pixel; i.e.:ETH(x)=f(EM(x))=C*EM(x)+Th _(—)0,

where C and Th_(—)0 may be pre-determined (and/or programmable)constants, and ETH(x) is constrained to be non-negative, Th_(—)0 isgreater than zero and C is less than zero. FIG. 8 graphicallyillustrates ETH(x). It will be appreciated that with increasing edgestrength at the target pixel, the substitution threshold is reduced, sothat the amount of filtering at the target pixel may be reduced. If theedge metric EM(x) reaches or exceeds a saturation point EM_s, thesubstitution threshold is reduced to zero and no filtering occurs at thetarget pixel. Thus strong edges are preserved unfiltered and blurringdue to noise reduction filtering may be reduced.

Other edge detection processes besides the above-described Sobel edgedetector may be employed in place of the Sobel edge detector in someembodiments. For example, the Canny edge detector may be used.

The balance of the process blocks in the process of FIGS. 7A and 7B maybe the same as the blocks described above in connection with FIG. 4. Inregard to the process of FIGS. 7A and 7B and other processes describedherein, the illustrations and descriptions of the processes are notintended to imply a fixed order of process stages. Rather, the processstages may be performed in any order that is practicable. For example,instead of calculating the edge metric and edge-sensitive substitutionthreshold for each target pixel as it is selected, one or both of edgedetection and threshold calculation may be performed for all targetpixels in an image before substituting any neighboring pixel values andperforming filtering with respect to any target pixel in the image.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram that illustrates aspects of a noisereduction process performed in the post-processing block 206 inaccordance with still other embodiments. In the embodiments now to bedescribed in connection with FIGS. 9, 10A and 10B, determination of thesubstitution threshold reflects both edge conditions at the target pixeland a degree of quantization previously applied during compressionencoding to a now-decoded (decompressed) video signal that is to befiltered for noise reduction purposes.

FIG. 9 shows blocks 202 and 204 discussed above in connection with FIG.2, blocks 302 and 310 discussed in connection with FIG. 3 and block 602discussed in connection with FIG. 6. In addition, the content adaptivesubstitute block (now labeled 304″), and in particular its constituentcompare and replace block (now labeled 306″) are also present, with thecompare and replace block 306″ having been modified to receive from thevideo decoder block 204 a signal that indicates a degree of quantizationemployed in the compression-encoding of the video signal decoded byblock 204. The compare and replace block 306″ generates substitutionthreshold values based both on edge conditions detected by block 602 andon the signal from the video decoder 204 to indicate the degree ofquantization.

FIGS. 10A and 10B together form a flow chart that illustrates anembodiment of a decoder-assisted edge-sensitive adaptive substitutefiltering process that may be performed by blocks 602 and 304″ of FIG.9. The process of FIGS. 10A and 10B may begin with the same block 402 asdiscussed in connection with FIG. 4. At 1002 in FIG. 10A, the compareand replace block 306″ receives from the video decoder 204 aquantization parameter signal QP(x) which increases in proportion to thedegree of quantization (coarseness of quantization) that was appliedduring compression encoding of the video signal decoded by the videodecoder 204.

The process of FIGS. 10A and 10B further includes block 404 discussedabove in connection with FIG. 4, and block 702 discussed above inconnection with FIG. 7A. At 1004 a quantization-adaptive edge-relatedsubstitution threshold ETH(x) is calculated to be used in a contentadaptive substitute filtering process to be applied to the target pixel.In some embodiments, ETH(x) may be calculated according to the followingformula:ETH(x)=C*EM(x)+K*QP(x),

where K is a pre-determined (and/or programmable) constant. Both K andQP(x) are greater than zero in this example; C and EM(x) are asdescribed in connection with 702 and 704 of FIG. 7A. With thisarrangement, the degree of filtering that may be performed by block 304″may increase with the degree of quantization applied to the video signalduring compression encoding. This may be desirable, since an increasedamount of coding noise may be present where more quantization wasapplied.

The balance of the process blocks in the process of FIGS. 10A and 10Bmay be the same as the blocks described above in connection with FIG. 4.

In some embodiments, edge detection may be omitted or may not be presentand/or C may be set to zero, so that the substitution threshold isquantization-adaptive but not edge-related.

The edge detection block and/or the content adaptive substitutefiltering block, or other blocks herein, may be implemented asapplication-specific logic circuitry or by one or more programmableprocessors controlled by software instructions stored in a memory ormemories coupled to the processor or processors.

The several embodiments described herein are solely for the purpose ofillustration. The various features described herein need not all be usedtogether, and any one or more of those features may be incorporated in asingle embodiment. Therefore, persons skilled in the art will recognizefrom this description that other embodiments may be practiced withvarious modifications and alterations.

1. A method of operating a noise reduction circuit and acompression-encoding circuit, the method comprising: subtracting, in thenoise reduction circuit, a value of a target pixel from a respectivevalue of each of a plurality of pixels located in an area that includesthe target pixel; for each pixel of said plurality of pixels that has avalue different by at least a threshold amount from the value of thetarget pixel, replacing, in the noise reduction circuit, the value ofsaid each pixel with the value of the target pixel; applying, in thenoise reduction circuit, a filter function to a set of pixel values,said set of pixel values including the value of the target pixel andcurrent values, after said replacing, of said plurality of pixels, saidfilter function producing a filtered video signal that is output fromsaid noise reduction circuit; compression-encoding, in thecompression-encoding circuit, the filtered video signal output from thenoise reduction circuit.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the area is athree-pixel-by-three-pixel square.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein thefilter function is defined by a weight matrix as follows:$\begin{bmatrix}1 & 2 & 1 \\2 & 4 & 2 \\1 & 2 & 1\end{bmatrix}{\quad.}$
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:before said replacing, calculating an edge metric for said target pixel;and wherein said threshold amount is a function of said edge metric forsaid target pixel.
 5. A method of operating a noise reduction circuitand a compression-encoding circuit, the method comprising: comparing, inthe noise reduction circuit, a value of a target pixel with a respectivevalue of each of a plurality of pixels located in an area that includesthe target pixel; for each pixel of said plurality of pixels that has avalue different by at least a threshold amount from the value of thetarget pixel, replacing, in the noise reduction circuit, the value ofsaid each pixel with the value of the target pixel; applying, in thenoise reduction circuit, a filter function to a set of pixel values,said set of pixel values including the value of the target pixel andcurrent values, after said replacing, of said plurality of pixels, saidfilter function producing a filtered video signal that is output fromsaid noise reduction circuit; compression-encoding, in thecompression-encoding circuit, the filtered video signal output from thenoise reduction circuit.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the area is athree-pixel-by-three-pixel square.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein thefilter function is defined by a weight matrix as follows:$\begin{bmatrix}1 & 2 & 1 \\2 & 4 & 2 \\1 & 2 & 1\end{bmatrix}\quad$
 8. The method of claim 5, further comprising: beforesaid replacing, calculating an edge metric for said target pixel; andwherein said threshold amount is a function of said edge metric for saidtarget pixel.
 9. A system comprising: a source of a video signal; anoise reduction circuit coupled to said source of a video signal; and acompression encoding circuit coupled to said noise reduction circuit;said noise reduction circuit operative to: compare a value of a targetpixel with a respective value of each of a plurality of pixels locatedin an area that includes the target pixel; for each pixel of saidplurality of pixels that has a value different by at least a thresholdamount from the value of the target pixel, replace the value of saideach pixel with the value of the target pixel; and apply a filterfunction to a set of pixel values, said set of pixel values includingthe value of the target pixel and current values, after said replacing,of said plurality of pixels, said filter function producing a filteredvideo signal that is output from said noise reduction circuit; whereinsaid compression encoding circuit receives said filtered video signalfrom said noise reduction circuit and compression-encodes said filteredvideo signal.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein said noise reductioncircuit is further operative to: store an output value of said filterfunction as a filtered value of the target pixel.
 11. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the area is a three-pixel-by-three-pixel square. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein the filter function is defined by aweight matrix as follows: $\begin{bmatrix}1 & 2 & 1 \\2 & 4 & 2 \\1 & 2 & 1\end{bmatrix}{\quad.}$
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein said noisereduction circuit is further operative to: before said replacing,calculate an edge metric for said target pixel; and wherein saidthreshold amount is a function of said edge metric for said targetpixel.